School volunteers to face background checks

All Frenship school district employees have to go through criminal background checks, but now volunteers will have to be investigated too.

In the past, Frenship Independent School District screened all employees though the Texas Department of Public Safety, but Terry Kinard, Frenship ISD's director of human resources, said that system wasn't as complete as the district would like, since it only showed arrest records made in Texas and arrest records could be delayed.

"It's not ultra revealing," he said.

So, now anyone coming "face to face with students" will be screened through a new system, one that's about eight times the cost of the DPS screening.

"What better way to spend taxpayers' money than by making schools more safe," he said.

Instead of being screened through one database, they will be screened through 190 databases.

"It's very, very, very thorough," Kinard said.

Anyone who helps at a school-sponsored concession stands or spends time at the school has to go through a criminal background check.

Kinard said the district realizes the new policy might upset some parents, but he'd rather have one angry parent than a child put at risk. He compared it to going through airport security: Nobody likes it, but to keep the country safe, people are willing to do it.

"We're willing to do what it takes to keep kids safe," Kinard said. "We're willing to go through the hassle."

He noted that there has not been any safety issues that caused the change, but the district does not want to take any chances, and said parents should feel the same way.

If a volunteer does have an arrest record, Kinard is willing to visit with him or her about it before the district makes a decision.

Typically, he said, anyone with a previous record involving drugs, alcohol, sex or violence within the past 10 years is someone the district is not interested in, but there is not an official policy.

"A lot of times we just have to make the call," Kinard said. The new volunteer security check procedure will take effect this spring.

Frenship is not the only district screening volunteers. Jo Ellen Henderson, communication specialist for Lubbock-Cooper Independent School District, said the district even screens those hired to do campus construction. She said doing criminal checks on employees and volunteers isn't an uncommon practice and isn't something new to the district.

All Lubbock Independent School District volunteers are required to have a background check and are screened through DPS and a private company as well, said Nancy Sharp, public information director.

The policy stipulates that any volunteer who works alone on school-related activities on LISD property with any child for any reason outside of the school building must undergo a criminal history record check.

"It's a long time policy at LISD," she said.

The policy states that campus principals must ensure that no volunteer be placed unless that volunteer has been cleared through a criminal history record check by the appropriate central administration office.